


The Empty Hearse

by YBC



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:14:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27387769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YBC/pseuds/YBC
Summary: Sakura died in an earthquake, but extra clues show that her death is not a simple disarster.To find the truth, Naruto and Sasuke decide to...
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 - Relationship
Kudos: 6





	The Empty Hearse

**Author's Note:**

> I am not a native English speaker, so I may make a lot of mitakes during the translation_(:з」∠)_If I confuse you please tell me or let me know what is a better way to translate it😘  
> Hope you like this story.

Haruno Sakura was pronounced dead at the behest of her parents. The emaciated couple, who were now over fifty years old, personally went to the Hokage office to meet with Hatake Kakashi and said that since the rescue operation was hopeless, they might at least give Sakura a decent burial first. It wasn't that the Haruno couple was cruel, after all, Sakura had encountered an earthquake in the mission area, the canyon she was in was instantly squashed by two mountains on either side, and the village in the canyon was buried under the ground. They cannot but despair.

  
"I've heard, I've heard that if a soul want to pass Santu, she need to have family sacrifices ...... if our Sakura has ...... at least we can't let her have a bad time down there ...... "Meibuki couldn't lift her head as she cried, and it was only thanks to Kizashi’s support that she didn't collapse on the ground. As Sakura’s father, Haruno Kizashi was pale, probably only the thought of taking care of his wife was keeping him still standing upright.

  
Kakashi was silent for a long while, and with a sigh he finally agreed to their request. That afternoon the order to confirm the death of the ninja Haruno Sakura, and cancel her ninja registration was sent to the Ninja Identity Administration.

  
Three days later, the Haruno couple held the funeral of their only daughter.

  
Many people went to the funeral of this great medic ninja, who used her medical skills to have saved countless people. However, the two people who should have been there the most didn't show up. They were Sakura's old teammates, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.

  
Uchiha Sasuke’s absence is somehow reasonable, after all, he is on some confidential, faraway mission, it’s understandable that he couldn’t come back. Maybe he now even don’t know that Haruno Sakura has been pronounced dead. Besides, Konoha’s safe is also more important than a ninja’s funeral. But Naruto is well in Konoha, making his absence of this funeral seems a bit unreasonable.

  
Some of the people who were close to Sakura in her daily life - the owner of the dissert shop, for example - were a little angry about this. With the simple courage brought by this anger, they asked Naruto's friends why he didn't come. A similar look of embarrassment basically appeared on all of Naruto’s friends’ faces.

  
There was no way they could tell these people with simple justice in their hearts that Naruto wasn't coming because he simply wouldn't acknowledge Haruno Sakura's death. The day Kakashi, not knowing whether it was intentional or unintentional, went so far as to tell Naruto to send over the death determination and the ninja cancellation certificate. Naruto nearly toppled Kakashi's desk on the spot.

  
"Sakura-chan's body wasn't even found, so what makes you think she's dead?" Naruto's face looked almost the same as it did when he heard the news of Jiraiya's death, as if the whole world had lied to him and no one would give him a hand. But then Sakura had at least been able to say something, and now there was only Kakashi in the office and he was sitting behind his desk, unable to reach Naruto.

  
"It's been a month and Sakura's parents want to put her soul to rest." Kakashi rubbed his aching forehead. He didn't want to give up on the search for Sakura if he could, but no matter who Sakura had spent more time with throughout her youth, they were outsiders to the Haruno family. They are not the most entitled people who could make decisions for her.

  
When Naruto tried to say something else, Kakashi made a gesture to stop, "If not, Sakura's parents can't give her a funeral."

  
"What kind of funeral?" Naruto's voice trembled, "Not even a body," he re-emphasized the element he had just mentioned, "What are they going to bury in the ground?"

  
At this time Kakashi really didn't have the emotion to persuade Naruto, he was already very busy with his work, and the medical department was short of people because of Sakura’s death. Tsunade may have received his letter and was on her way to Konoha, but before she returned there were many things that only Shizune was carrying, and it was really hard to carry on alone. Kakashi was keen for Naruto not to become a problem at this time, so he was still patient in trying to enlighten him.

  
"Naruto, a thing like a funeral isn't meant to be conducted for a certain corpse. Funerals are for the living, you know?" Kakashi said gently, actually wearily, "Isn't it cruel to let her parents hang on hopeless waiting while none of us know whether we can get a result?"

  
As he grew up, Naruto began to be able to accept some of the workarounds, but there were still some areas where he retained his born stubbornness, and this time it was clear that he had run into his stubborn side. While he didn't continue to interfere with Kakashi doing his next official business, he still didn't accept the confirmation of Sakura's death and didn't go to her funeral even though he received an invitation to do so.

  
Naruto’s friends knew it wasn't that Naruto didn't care about his teammates, quite the contrary, it was because he was overly affetionate, so they more or less tried to explain for him by saying that Naruto just didn't come because he was overly sad.

  
Half of the people who came to ask clearly didn't seem to accept that argument, and the other half accepted it politely on the face, as all of them shook their heads silently after turning around, as if lamenting that no fellow friendship could beat the gaps washed out by the years.

  
But this was Haruno Sakura's funeral, and putting too much thought into who attended it would seem too unreasonable. Finally everyone had begun to simply mourn. The flow of the funeral was the same as all other funerals, with various speeches, recitation of sutras for the afterlife, silent tears, and finally, burial.

  
The light coffin probably did not need two people to carry, but if a brawny man carried it on his shoulders alone, it would be unsightly, so two people were invited after all.

  
In the midst of sobbing, the empty coffin with only Sakura's regular clothes in it was put into the grave, and a handful of dirt was carried by each person.

  
One day later, the ordinary people who had been upset that Sakura's two teammates didn't show up at the funeral began to return to their lives with renewed vigor. Their grief was light, needing the backdrop of a cemetery, the gloomy weather and the heavy words of others to gather. While the one they accused of being a little fickle still walks away from work sometimes until a week later.

  
Kakashi finally decided that he couldn't let Naruto be sad like this any longer, and he gave him a Hokage assignment to go to the canyon where Sakura had died and gather some data on this disaster.

  
"Sort of a vacation for you." Kakashi didn't disguise the purpose of the decision, "Pay your respects to Sakura when you get there, have a good cry, and come back to be the same old Uzumaki Naruto."

  
If a bystander had heard this they might have thought Kakashi was overly callous, but Naruto, who already knew how many loved ones his sensei had lost along the way, just fell silent and finally nodded and accepted the assignment.

  
When Jiraiya died, there was still the belief in getting stronger to back him up. So in his mind, it was better to get out for some time than to be forced to let that sadness rot in his heart.

  
Naruto was about to leave when Kakashi called out to him again, adding, "I've already told Sasuke about the same mission, so you'll go together then."

  
Naruto gave Kakashi a glance. He kind of understood his teacher's hidden tenderness, but no one was beside him to press his head, ordering him to bow and saying thank you, so he finally just whispered, "Got it" and walked out.

  
When there was only one person left, Kakashi loosened his back into the chair and spun around, then his eyes resting right on the group photo of Team 7 on the table.  
His eyes were so dry that he couldn't even cry without the eye drops that Sakura regularly dispensed for him.

  
  
*  
After taking over the task Naruto is soon ready to leave Konoha. These days because of his work status, there was nothing particularly urgent on his hands, and the handover was simple. Shikamaru understands what Kakashi wants to do, so he takes over most of Naruto's burdens without saying a word, leaving him to really mourn his teammates in the middle of Hokage training.

  
The canyon where Sakura was killed is very far away from Konoha, and it took Naruto three days to reach it, standing at the entrance of the original canyon on the morning of the fourth day.

  
This place he had come to when he was on a mission before, it was a nice place with beautiful scenery, and there were many settlements around, but because of the inconvenient transportation, the development state of the settlements was not very good, and everyone was living a relatively poor life.

  
After that disaster, the only thing left in front of Naruto now was a narrow cleft.

  
He slowly makes his way into the canyon, getting closer and closer to the entrance in the morning mist. Soon he sees strange things piled up at the pass, including steamed buns and bouquets of flowers and whatnot. Naruto looks at them for a moment, understanding that they were probably offerings from survivors or simply good people.

  
Knowing it was useless, it might as well be used to wrap one's stomach, but it was done anyway. Naruto unexpectedly thought of what Kakashi had said - "Funerals are for the living".

  
He stands for a moment in front of the stone filled with offerings, then walks around it and soon enters the crevice of the mountain.

  
Saying it was a crevasse, it was more than fifty meters wide, but it was clearly not a distance that would allow a village to survive. Naruto couldn't help but wonder as he walked if there were any dead beneath the rocks under his feet who were trying to crawl out with their hands up.

  
He isn't frightened by this; on the contrary, he even wants to dig right in the ground, at least not so that their girl couldn't be stuck alone in the rocks and become a fossil.

  
It isn't long before Naruto notices some man-made marks ahead. The irregular beating of his heart lasts only a moment as he sees that it is a recently extinguished fire, apparently made by someone later. There is a man sitting next to that fire. Naruto silently walks over to the young man who looks back at him and whispered, "Sasuke."

  
Uchiha Sasuke looked Naruto up and down for a moment as he hangs in the morning dew, then turns his gaze back to the depths of the gray crevice and says in a low voice, "You are late, usuratonkachi."


End file.
